„Aranykor után”. A magyarországi bankközpontok területi átrendeződése a két világháború közötti korszakban
„After the Golden Age” Territorial Reorganisation of Hungarian Bank Centres between the World Wars

Summary/Abstract: The paper analyses the impact of the Hungarian banking system on the hierarchical setting of urban network in the interwar period. It is based on previous research on territorial distribution of banking functions in the early twentieth century calculated by Christaller’s Central Place Theory. The spatial development of the Hungarian banking sector was determined by two parallel processes, namely by border changes, and by processes of spatial concentration and institutional centralization following international trends. The dissolution of the previously integrated financial market with the detachment of provincial financial centres was only partially responsible for the disproportionate growth of the asset concentration of Budapest banks. The importance of the remaining financial centres was further decreased by the natural process of market concentration from the beginning of the twentieth century. This led to the merging of many provincial financial institutions into Budapest-based banks or becoming parts of the affiliate networks of the largest banking corporations. After World War I and the great economic depression the consolidation of the banking system was further stimulated by active state interventions. Building an extensive network of provincial branches, banks with Budapest headquarters were weakening the positions of local banks with limited scope of territorial functions. The paper analyses the changing spatial hierarchical order of provincial financial centres and gives examples of the defensive strategies of provincial banks with larger financial muscle.

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